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Thursday, March 21, 2013

3-Weeks Post Surgery #1

I'm back with a 3-week post-surgery update for those of you who are interested. As I mentioned in my last post, I have been undergoing physical therapy. The goal of my physical therapy is to gain complete mobility of my arms. I have some limited mobility due to the tightness in my pectoralis muscles. However, the real focus of my PT is on the axillary cording of my left arm, since I need that to improve prior to radiation. If I can't completely move my arm into the position needed for radiation, it would delay my treatment. Well. I have some great news! I have made significant progress in physical therapy. In fact, I believe I can already completely move my arm into the position needed for radiation. My physical therapist is very pleased with my improvement.

I have noticed though ever since surgery that whenever I cough or sneeze, my incision sites hurt pretty badly. After Physical Therapy on Friday, I noticed that the sites hurt even when I took deep breaths. By Saturday night, I noticed my right breast incision site was bleeding. On Tuesday, I saw my plastic surgeon, who removed the dressings over the incisions. Unfortunately, there was a portion of the incision on my right breast that didn't have any of the dermabond glue. This is what they use in lieu of stitches to close the incisions. The bleeding was seeping out of the area that lacked the glue. So, I was unable to have my scheduled expansion. Also, my lifting restrictions are being continued for at least another two weeks, when I see him next. In addition, he wants me to try to keep my right arm from stretching too far out Basically, he wants to prevent any pulling on that incision site until it fully heals. Hopefully, I will be able to have my first expansion in a couple of weeks. Then, I will have them weekly after that for 2-3 weeks. After I am fully expanded and healed, I can begin radiation. So, we are looking at probably the middle of April as the earliest for me to begin radiation.

I feel great though. The only real pain that I am in is the day of physical therapy, which is only twice weekly. I am beginning to feel like my old self! But, that can be dangerous sometimes. :-) My old self liked to accomplish a lot of things during the day. So, I have to try to restrain myself, since I really need the incision sites to heal.

I have so much more to share, including some exciting hair news and our fun adventures outdoors with my Brother, Sister-in-law and nephew last weekend. But, I will save all of that good stuff for another post. Happy Thursday everyone!